How is Meizu bringing its first product to the US? Crowdfunding, of course

The smartphone giant is using crowdsourcing to generate interest in its new designer speaker

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Meizu may not be a household name in the United States, but the Chinese company is by no means a small fry in the electronics world. But, despite Meizu being a smartphone bigwig – reportedly worth $3.3 billion and selling over 20 million smartphones last year – it has virtually zero presence in the 'States.

Instead of entering the US's crowded smartphone arena, however, as the company's first product for the US will be a gorgeous minimalist speaker that it calls the Meizu Gravity – a Zen-inspired take on speakers by award-winning designer Hironao Tsuboi.

The catch? Instead of rolling the dice on a standard launch, Meizu wants to raise funds (and interest) for the Gravity on Indiegogo.

"It will be very challenging for us to compete with [companies like JBL, Bose, and Sonos] because the customers here have so [much] choice when it comes to good speakers," the company said in a press release regarding its decision to crowdfund for the US. "We want to test out the competitiveness of our product."

Considering Meizu made its name selling MP3 players, we don't question the company's competency when it comes to making a decent audio product. We certainly can't fault the Gravity's aesthetics, either – the speaker's an enthralling mix of simplicity and innovation, using an attached prism to display information on a nearby wall instead of opting for a traditional LED screen.

That said, it still kinda rubs us the wrong way to see a major company use a website with "Indie" literally in the name. Should the Gravity take off during its crowdfunding campaign, we could potentially be seeing more Meizu products come to America – we just hope the company will have a little more confidence to pay for it themselves next time.